CTECH Latest Israeli Innovation & Technology News Jan. 26, 2023
Qualcomm set to cut dozens of jobs in Israel in new round of layoffs. The U.S. chip giant, which acquired Israeli startup Cellwize for $350 million last June, employs 700 people in Israel out of its total workforce of 12,500 employees. Read more
Fintech giant Finastra laying off dozens of employees in Israel. Finastra employs over 11,000 people worldwide, including 370 at its R&D center in Israel. Read more
Gambling group 888 lays off dozens of employees in Israel. 888 employed around 590 people in Israel prior to the cutbacks. Read more
Just two months after layoffs, Checkmarx flew hundreds of employees to kickoff event in Mexico. The Israeli cybersecurity company is estimated to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the annual event in Cancun that was held only a few weeks after it laid off around 100 employees. Read more
Hiring on hold: From ghost jobs to fake LinkedIn profiles, the high-tech employment crisis is worsening. If in 2021 the market belonged to the employees, who essentially were the ones interviewing the companies, and in 2022 the situation was unclear, then in 2023 it is a market that completely belongs to employers who carefully choose the employee they will hire. Read more
Pigmentum closes $6 million Seed round for its functional milk proteins. “The ability to produce dairy components from plants has the potential to change the dairy industry and positively impact the world as a whole,” said Tal Lutzky, Co-Founder of Pigmentum. Read more
Cellebrite signs $14 million agreement with Singapore’s national police agency. The digital intelligence company’s collect and review solution for digital evidence will be deployed to the entire law enforcement force throughout the country to help reduce crime. Read more
Report: Israel’s internet is the world’s best value for money. The index was created by ranking 117 countries and territories based on the speed-to-affordability ratios of fixed broadband internet and mobile internet. Read more
CTalk | Would you adopt carbon credits to save the planet? Rewind Co-Founder and VP of Marketing, Barak Roth, spoke to CTech about its new platform to tackle carbon footprints. Read more
“Everywhere in the globe, climatetech is now taking a step forward.” Dr. Bracha Halaf, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Gravity Climate Fund, spoke to CTech during Calcalist’s Climatetech conference. Read more
She-VC | “More needs to be done regarding female founders.” Renana Ashkenazi, General Partner at Grove Ventures, considers herself a semiconductor girl who found her way into the venture capital industry by mistake. This is her story of success. Read more
2022 VC Survey | How will Israel’s political protests affect investors in 2023? NGP Capital joined CTech for its “2022 VC Survey” series to share predictions for the year ahead. Read more
Fintech platform PayEm raises $20 million in equity funding and $200 million in credit. PayEm’s procurement and spend management platform offers smart procurement solutions, AP automation, expanse reimbursement and smart credit cards. Read more
Video advertising company Innovid lays off 10% of workforce. The Israeli-founded company completed a SPAC merger at a $1.2 billion valuation in December 2021, but currently has a market cap of $310 million. Read more
2022 VC Survey | Israeli Fintech startups to watch out for in 2023. As part of CTech’s 2022 VC survey, we asked dozens of industry executives to name some startups they invested in over the past year. The following list highlights some of the notable Fintech startups suggested by their investors. Read more
Leading Israeli VC Viola voices concern regarding “threats to the judicial system.” “We find it important to vocally communicate our belief that the State of Israel cannot exist without 3 fundamental principles: equality without discrimination, an independent legal system, and freedom of speech – generally, and particularly in academia and in the media,” the VC wrote in a statement. Read more
Insight Partners: “We support the high-tech ecosystem in Israel as they speak out in support of democracy, equality and equal opportunity.” The U.S. venture capital firm, considered to be the largest investor in Israeli high-tech over recent years, released a public statement as protests against the new government’s judicial reforms gather steam. Read more
High-tech employees stage one-hour work stoppage to protest judicial reform. “High-tech is not cut off from the state as they have said about us over the years. The state is important to us,” said the leaders of the demonstration. Read more
Round B | Fear factor: Adopting new tech. “The process of adopting any technology involves overcoming natural, understandable and justified concerns,” writes Piggy co-founder Shaul Olmert. “Our challenge as humans is not to avoid progress, but to make productive, informed and moral use of it.” Read more
McKinsey acquiring Israeli AI platform Iguazio for $50 million. The global management consulting firm is making its first acquisition of an Israeli company with the aim of accelerating and scaling enterprise AI. Read more
Cloud security startup Ermetic lays off 17% of team. The Israeli company, which paid tens of thousands of dollars to appear on the hit Netflix series Fauda last year, will be parting with 30 employees in total. Read more
Namogoo parting with 15% of workforce in second round of layoffs in less than three months. Company CEO Chemi Katz said the latest cutbacks will make the startup profitable immediately. Read more
Cisco Israel CEO: “This will be a good year to invest in Israel.” “In 2023 Cisco will continue to make investments in Israel,” says Oren Sagi, CEO of Cisco Israel. “We see better valuations today, the entrepreneurs are a little more realistic and there is also more pressure in the markets. All these conditions indicate that this will be a good year for us as an investor.” Read more
She-VC | “There is an opportunity cost, especially when you’re a mom.” Irit Kahan, Partner and Head of DTCP Israel, discusses how important it is to live life to its fullest and how that attitude pushed her to success. Read more
Remote HR startup Deel hits $295 million in ARR, $12 billion valuation. The company said its ARR in 2022 was up more than 400% from the end of 2021 and confirmed it has been EBITDA positive since September 2022. Read more
Thrill ride: Pomvom’s automated photography solution coming to Six Flags. The company, which develops photography solutions for theme parks, has signed a letter of intent with the American chain for what may be the biggest deal in its history, with revenues to potentially reach $21 million a year. Read more
Israeli startups to stage one-hour work stoppage to protest judicial reform. Redis, Natural Intelligence, HoneyBook and Forter are among the companies that have announced they will join a warning strike on Tuesday in protest of the legal reform. Read more
What are the real motives behind Playtika’s $813 million offer to buy Rovio? Why is it urgent for a company that has just laid off hundreds of employees, closed games, and spent $600 million on buying back its own shares, to embark on an expensive all-cash adventure? Read more
Number of job seekers in high-tech jumped by 20% in two months. The data from the employment service seems to reflect not only the waves of layoffs in high-tech, but also the increasing difficulty to find work quickly. Read more
Israeli Cybersecurity startups to watch out for in 2023. As part of CTech’s 2022 VC survey, we asked dozens of industry executives to name startups they invested in over the past year. The following list highlights some of the notable Cybersecurity startups suggested by their investors. Read more
Enlight aiming to raise over $200 million in Wall Street IPO. The company, which specializes in projects involving the generation of electricity from renewable energy, is currently traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange with a market cap of NIS 7.6 billion (approximately $2.23 billion) and plans to be a dual-listed company. Read more
Candy crack: Casual gaming addiction is not child’s play. Lost hours, huge expenses and lies – this is what the lives of mobile game addicts look like, and this is how the addictive mechanism works. Read more
Gett achieves profitability, but valuation still languishing at $258 million. Swedish investment fund VNV Global, which is the largest shareholder in the company, has revealed that the transportation company is “debt free, EBITDA positive and growing.” Read more
McKinsey report highlights infrastructure investment and labor participation as keys to Israel’s economic growth. According to McKinsey, a massive integration of the Arab and Haredi populations into the labor force, along with a ramping up of infrastructure investments and a productivity increase of 1.2%, would boost average monthly wages considerably by 2035. Read more
Opinion | Microsoft’s new voice mimicking AI VALL-E presents both opportunities and risks. Are the capabilities of VALL-E to spoof a voice also an infringement of the right of publicity? Read more
